


Serendipity in a Coffee Shop

by fallencas



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Barista Dean, Coffee Shops, Dean Flirts, Flirting, Fluff, M/M, Professor Castiel, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 15:08:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8849701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallencas/pseuds/fallencas
Summary: Castiel just wants to grab his cup of coffee and get back to grading papers. It seems the universe has other plans.





	

Castiel intended to swiftly get his coffee and return to his office without any additional obstacles. It seemed the universe had other plans. Since none of the roads were plowed, driving proved an immense difficulty. Not only that, but there was an accident on the road he takes to his usual place, so he was forced to settle for an alternate further away. But dammit, he was going to get his latte if the world depended on it.

After parking in a slush pile, he stumbled into the coffee shop with his blue tie astray and snow sticking haphazardly to his pant leg. The aroma of freshly-ground coffee was instantly therapeutic. _Thank God for caffeinated beverages_ , he thought. This pick-me-up was seriously needed if he was going to push through grading his grad students’ finals.

He trudged his way to the counter and, with utter confidence, he ordered his usual. “Um, yeah, I’ll just, ah, wait, shoot. There goes my wallet. Hang on, let me just- oh fu-! My bad ma’am. Could I actually get some paper towel? It seems to be quite the difficulty ordering coffee!” He tried to make light of things, but it just ended with more embarrassment when met with the barista’s silence. He swayed nervously, and sighed. “Just give me a vanilla latte. Small, or tall, or whatever.”

“Name?” The employee glanced up uneventfully as he waved someone over to clean the mess. The woman whose drink he spilt gave him a side-eye so abhorrent you’d think he’d knocked the whole damn coffeemaker on her. The dark-haired man thought about apologizing but instead stood there sullenly, thinking to himself he should’ve gotten a large.

“Castiel.” The professor gave an apologetic glance as he snatched his wallet from the coffee-soaked floor and shoved it into his coat.

Carefully sidestepping the puddle of liquid, he cautiously advanced to the younger looking man dutifully mopping the catastrophe. As he cleaned, Castiel noticed the freckles spattering his cheek bones, and how every arm movement accentuated his muscles. He hadn’t even begun to apologize, and his face was already heating up. Wonderful. Castiel told himself it was from embarrassment, and not the striking flecks of green in the man’s eyes.

“I really didn’t mean to.” He shrugged his shoulders sheepishly and examined the floor’s tile patterns.

“Castiel, is it?”

“Yeah-” The employee cut him off before he could talk any further. The older man almost rolled his eyes, but figured the café worker was probably having a long day like himself- well week in Castiel’s case.

“You know, Cas, most guys don’t try to get my attention by spilling drinks on sweet old ladies.” He smirked, obviously impressed with his witty remark.

“I wasn’t-” He furrowed his brows and crossed his arms crisply. It was only then that he realized how disheveled he probably looked.

The man pressed on, “No, no I totally get it. You’re obviously impressed by my career potential and obvious sense of style.” He gave a toothy grin and waggled his eyebrows, as he gestured to his mop and green apron. Underneath the latter, he noticed the presence of a flannel. Shouldn’t that be against some sort of employee code?

He half-smiled and retorted, “Hey that lady was not sweet. You should have seen the evil eye she shot me. As far as you know, she deserved it.” He gave a menacing eye raise. If freckles wanted to play this game, then so be it. Castiel could flirt, too, right? Social interaction couldn’t be that difficult.

The barista continued, his face becoming more animated as he talked, “Ooh! A revenge plot! What’d she do? Take your cat? Steal the last handicapped parking spot?” He chuckled to himself, and Castiel allowed a full-blown grin. One-upping the light-haired man would be easy.

Castiel forced an audible gasp and covered his mouth in pseudo-shock. “Oh, God, no. Nothing like that. Just your average married-my-dad-for-the-money-then-killed-him. I had to get her back somehow.” He winked mischievously.

The green-eyed man snorted and leaned against the counter. “My bad. I didn’t take you for the angry-at-his-deranged-stepmom type.”

“I didn’t take you for the flirtatious type.” Cas swore it was the trick of the light, but it looked like the other man was blushing. “And besides, this is just the start of a long narrow road for her.”

“Alright, I can get behind some just deserts.” He snickered, and his expression sobered up, as he spoke next. “So, Cas, do you think maybe you would-”

“Vanilla latte for Castiel.” A voice from behind the counter interrupted their reverie. He jerked up, not realizing how much he had gravitated toward the worker.

“That would be me.” He snagged the paper cup, and turned toward the other man before he ran out. “Thanks for… cleaning that up. And you know.” He smiled sheepishly.

The employee he lowered his voice. “Next time life gets too fast, remember to breathe. Okay, Cas?”

The professor was hopeless to do anything but glance away and nod. “Right.”

While he was scurrying out of the shop, the other man called back, “Tell me how that whole revenge thing goes! If you end up killing her, I’ll help you hide the body.”

The dark-haired man stared back wide-eyed, nearly tripping on his own feet. He watched intently as the barista realized he exclaimed that to a room full of people, and his expression immediately transformed to one of humility.

The younger man stiffened and looked around precariously. “No dead bodies everyone. Nothing to worry about.” Cas nearly laughed out loud as the guy carelessly backed into the mop bucket, cursed, and hurried into the back room.

Apart from the huff of an elderly man, an encroaching silence stretched among the café. He supposed it could have gone worse.

A distant voice reprimanded, “Dammit, Dean. Keep it in your pants for two seconds, will you?”

With a chuckle, Castiel shuffled outside with a new sense of optimism. A childlike grin spread across his face, and he thought that maybe today wouldn’t be so bad.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave me any comments or suggestions :)


End file.
